


Suffer In Silence

by BluePlanetTrash



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Bad Ending, Bullied Lance, Bullying, Bullying Team, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Lance and Coran join the blade, Langst, Rude Team, Sad Ending, Unappreciated Lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-19 23:15:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14247867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluePlanetTrash/pseuds/BluePlanetTrash
Summary: Hey so can you write a langst one shot where the team is being rude and lance Cant take it so he breaks down but then the team doesn't care and say its just attention he wants. Can there be a sad ending no death though. You don't have to write it though just a request, I just really like your writing.





	1. Chapter 1

At first, he really didn’t want to acknowledge it. At first, he thought that they were just messing around, or they were stressed or something. He didn’t think that it would become a normal occurrence.

He was unsurprised by the verbal abuse from Allura. They barely knew each other and she grew up in a war, not that they hadn’t on Earth but she and Coran also woke up to find their entire species slain and were intent on getting revenge on Zarkon or “justice” as she called it.

It was strange though, it didn’t seem like anyone else was getting the backlash of Allura’s temper like he was.

“Lance! Can you stop acting like an idiot long enough to complete the exercise?!” She yelled at him after getting knocked down by the gladiator for the eighth time that practice. He pushed himself back up to his feet and sheepishly looked over into her glaring eyes.

“I’m sorry Allura, I’m trying,” he tried. She huffed and crossed her arms before restarting the level. He quickly slid into position and faced the gladiator, trying to focus and remember the short lessons they had before the gladiators were released. Within a few seconds, he lost track of one of the hands and was smacked in the chest. He wheezed and sank to the floor as the gladiator deactivated and sunk into the floor.

He heard Allura let out a harsh sigh and he stayed doubled over where he was trying to suck in a breath without letting the tears in his eyes fall, it was honestly the last thing he needed right now. A suppressed flinch went through his body when he heard the telltale footfalls of her armour approaching him and he looked up.

“That was completely inexcusable, by now you should have these levels mastered,” she glared. “I don’t understand why you won’t take your training seriously, the universe is in peril and you can’t even push yourself to improve,”

“You’re wrong!” Lance argued.

“No; but I’m starting to think that the Blue Lion was wrong in choosing you to be her paladin,” she spat. Lance’s eyes widened in shock, his mouth gaping open in surprise.

“Why would you say that?” He asked quietly, his head shaking slightly. It was true that sometimes he would wonder if Blue made the right choice but to hear it coming from someone else’s mouth, especially one of his leaders. His head swivelled to look over at the others who were sitting off to the side, watching the two of them bored. They didn’t look concerned in the slightest at the treatment. Hunk looked a little put off by the treatment but he wasn’t reaching out to help him either.

Maybe he was just overreacting.

That must be it, right? They wouldn’t just sit there if it wasn’t true after all.

He turned back to look at Allura’s cold eyes.

“You’re the weakest link by far Lance and if you don’t clean up your act, we’re going to have to find another blue paladin,” she hissed. Lance’s eyes widened significantly and tears dripped down his face.

“You’re going again!” She demanded ignoring him to start the training again. He jumped to his feet, not bothering to wipe away the tears and slid into a fighting stance.

She was right. He was the weakest one out of all of them.

It didn’t make it hurt any less.

But it was okay. It wouldn’t last for long.

* * *

He wasn’t unsurprised by Keith’s attitude towards him either. He had pretty much started the rivalry in the first place, although it wasn’t much of a rivalry, to begin with since Keith came out on top in everything anyway. At least he still had him on marksmanship; but it seemed like it was more then just the childish rivalry he started up as a way to get closer to the teen, he started seeking him out after training or missions just to tell him how he messed up as if he didn’t already know.

“What the hell was that Lance?” He growled stomping up to Lance in Blue’s hanger. He spun around to face him but immediately looked down at the ground instead.

He knew that he had messed up and now Blue was going to be out of commission for a while. Still, no one ever went up to Keith after he put himself in danger after a mission.

“I was trying to lighten the mood Keith,” he tried to defend himself.

“Lighten the mood? Are you kidding me? We aren’t playing pee-wee football, we’re soldiers,” he spat poking Lance in the chest. Lance swallowed and kept his gaze lowered, usually, he would spit back but Keith was completely right. If he hadn’t been so distracted, then he wouldn’t have crashed and gotten hit.

“Everyone else may be fine with putting up with how careless you are but that doesn’t mean I’m going to tolerate it,”

He winced and slightly nodded his head in agreement. He understood and he wasn’t going to try to crack any jokes or do anything in Blue again.

“I get it, I just, I didn’t want everyone to be so serious all the time, we’re just kids,” he tried looking up at him.

“Yeah right, kids in charge of the entire universe, we don’t have time for having fun out here Lance,” he hissed before turning and stalking towards the doors.

“Honestly, I don’t know why you’re still here, we should have found someone else a long time ago,” he said as he started down the halls.

Lance’s eyes shot open and his hand unconsciously came up to grip at his shirt. First Allura said it, now Keith?

He knew that at the moment he wasn’t the most reliable person but he didn’t think that one of his own teammates, someone he actually went to school with, would want to get rid of him too.

His hands clenched into fists at his sides.

No more jokes. No more stunts. He could that, it might take a little bit to get out of the habit, but he could do it.

After all, he was right. He was the least serious person on the team and it was hurting because of him.

It didn’t make it hurt any less.

But it was okay, it wouldn’t last forever.

* * *

It was a lot more painful to realize that Shiro was starting to care less about him as well. It wasn’t like they were particularly close or anything, but he was the leader and he always thought of a leader as someone who protected their own; not antagonize them over the simplest things, things that the others messed up on and were not even spoken to about.

Every day, he would look over to gauge Shiro’s reaction to any advancement he made in training or whenever someone was being particularly harsh with him; but if he tried to seek out his help he would either look away as if nothing was wrong or it was Lance’s fault.

He didn’t want to say anything, it seemed like everyone was ganging up on him anyway so it wasn’t like Shiro was entirely in the wrong either. Still, it didn’t make it hurt any less when he would smile happily at all the others but when his eyes skimmed over Lance his face would go completely blank like he didn’t want to show any emotion to him.

“Lance we have to talk,” Shiro grunted after one particular practice. Honestly, Lance was feeling pretty great about this session. He nailed all of his shots, he was able to hold his own and had his teammate’s backs at the right times. It wasn’t the quickest process, certainly not compared to the others but it was much more than what he had started with.

“Yeah okay,” he said excitedly already used to the impassive way that Shiro addressed him. Shiro waved to the others as they trailed out of the training deck, before turning back to Lance who was already looking up at him curiously.

“We need to talk about your performance,” he sighed rubbing his face tiredly.

“What about it?” He asked hopefully. Honestly, the body language was all there, he should have expected it but with how well he thought he was doing. Shiro didn’t think the same thing.

“I’m disappointed Lance,” he admitted looking into Lance’s eyes. Lance’s smile slid off his face.

“What?” He asked confused.

“You aren’t improving like the rest of the team and honestly, it’s exhausting, you don’t put in the work like all of us do on our downtime and it’s unacceptable,”

“What?” he asked in confusion. He had been training. He had been trying to improve but he didn’t want to get in anybody’s way. He didn’t want to be criticized while they were in the training deck so he took to training later at night instead.

He was devastated to find out that it wasn’t paying off as much as he thought it was.

“Listen, Lance, I really don’t want to have to try and find a new paladin for Blue so for the sake of everyone here, just shape up,” he demanded before walking out leaving a gaping Lance behind to stare at the doorway he left.

He was right, he was letting everyone down. He was such a disappointment.

It didn’t make it hurt any less.

But it would be okay, it wouldn’t last forever. Right?

* * *

His heart started aching steadily when he started to notice that Pidge’s teasing became more vicious and she started spitting insults at him without hesitation. They used to think of each other as siblings but now it seemed like she only saw him as a nuisance.

“Don’t touch anything Lance! God, you’re so stupid,” she hissed as he looked over some of her equipment curiously. He jumped back away from her even though he hadn’t been going to touch anything and looked over at her with wide eyes.

“I wasn’t going to touch anything,” he defended himself weakly, only receiving a roll of her eyes as a response. He deflated and back away from her workstation and wandered around the hanger instead. As he walked around he started idly chatting about anything that came to mind, remembering all the times in the Garrison where they would talk endlessly for hours after classes and simulations.

He noticed that every time he tried recently though, all he would get was a distracted head nod or a grunt of agreement whereas before she would have jumped to talk about conspiracies and cryptids with him. Maybe it was the increasing pressure on them to defend the universe and on finding her family specifically, but hey, all of them were kind of going through the same thing.

“Any luck with the tracker?” He asked after finishing another hour-long wander around the hanger this time in silence. He jumped back when Pidge slammed her tools down on the desk and spun around to face him her finger threateningly pointed in his chest.

“Maybe I would get work done if you would just shut up,” he hissed with a glare. Lance blinked his eyes rapidly in astonishment.

“I haven’t talked in an hour,” he replied quietly.

“Well, maybe you should never talk again,” she huffed out a vicious laugh and turned her back on Lance.

“That wasn’t nice,” he grumbled with a pout crossing his arms. Even though she said it a little bit harsher than usual, it didn’t sound like anything she wouldn’t say to him usually since he loved to annoy her while she was working on something.

“Do you really think I give a shit?” Okay, that was not something she would normally say. He quirked an eyebrow and walked forward slightly trying to see her face.

“I don’t know,” he shrugged with a little smile. “I just wanted to talk like we used to,”

“Well some of us have more important things to do than stand there and talk all day long,” she pushed his face away from her and turned back to her work. Lance opened his mouth ready to spit out an apology or something but quickly shut it and turned to walk out of the room. He would try to help Hunk with the cooking or maybe Coran with cleaning the pods. They didn’t take much intelligence to do, perfect for him.

She was right. He was loud and obnoxious and just a goofball.

It didn’t make it hurt any less.

Maybe this wouldn’t last forever.

* * *

He was never in such pain as when Hunk finally took a dig at him. They would always tease each other without hesitation because they trusted each other with their limits. That’s what best friends are for after all, but on the other side of the coin. They know the things that can really hurt you, no matter who is saying it. Lance didn’t think that Hunk would ever be the best friend that suddenly wanted nothing to do with you. The one that turned their back on the friend that cared about them the most. It broke his heart when he snapped at him.

“I don’t know what I’m doing wrong man,” Lance said morosely staring at the countertop his fingers threading through his hair as he thought about the rest of his teammates. They all seemed to hate him now and he didn’t know what he did wrong, or it was his fault in the first place. Considering he was the only constant variable though, it was more than likely that it was because of him.

Hunk was whipping some kind of gelatinous substance in one of the mixing bowls. By now he would be trying to comfort or reassure Lance in someway but it had been pretty hard for the entire after their last mission.

“What do you think I should do Hunk?” He asked, laying his chin on his arms and looking over at his friend. “It’s just that I want them to like me, we’re going to be here for who knows how long and I don’t want to get on their nerves any more than I already am. I mean I’m trying my hardest to train as much as possible to not disappoint Allura and Shiro and I’m trying to not, you know, get on Keith’s nerves as much, and I’m just trying to stay out of Pidge’s way and stuff because I’ll just mess her stuff up and-”

Through his own thoughts and voice, he didn’t see or hear how Hunk’s hand slowly started clenching the whisk tighter in his hand or the way his teeth started grinding together irritably.

“God damn, not everything is about you, Lance!” He finally snapped and whipped over to face the wide-eyed boy.

“Hunk?” He asked in shock. Hunk slammed the bowl down on the counter making Lance flinched and stare at him.

“Maybe if you would just keep your mouth shut or stop doing those stupid things during training and missions we wouldn’t be so annoyed with you,”

“Wait, I’m annoying?” He asked. Hunk wouldn’t say that, he knew how much that hurt Lance. He had told him that so long ago. He wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t.

“Were you even listening?!” He groaned rubbing his hands down his face. Lance curled into himself looking at the table as his chin started trembling. “First of all you’re trying way too hard and it’s getting obnoxious, second of all you run your mouth with having no way to back it up, you come up with the most outrageous plans and keep trying to shove them at Shiro and Allura, it’s just so irritating,” he ranted.

“B-but, I,” he started with a croak not moving his gaze from the table. His eyes squinted as he tried not to let the tears fall. He quickly pushed away from the table and towards the door.

“I’ll try not to do that anymore, thanks, Hunk,” he said before he walked out. As he trekked towards his room he constantly used his sleeve to wipe away his tears. He hadn’t let what the rest of them say to him get underneath his skin. He believed that they would soon see what they were doing and stop. He didn’t care if they apologized or tried to make it up to him at this point. All he wanted was for it to stop.

But Hunk was right. He was annoying and obnoxious.

It didn’t make it hurt any less.

Please don’t let this last forever.

* * *

Ever since Lance last talked to Hunk. He changed as much as he could. He didn’t want to be a burden on anyone anymore.

He put himself through training, every night when no one was around and worked up the courage to train while the others were there as well. He tried as much as he could not to be affected by their stares as he worked or their scoffs when he was beaten down. As much as he was doing this for them, he was also doing it for himself. He didn’t want to be the weakest link anymore.

He did exactly what Shiro said, no matter how harsh it was. He took the missions no one else wanted. He did the training to become better and flew with Blue whenever he could to become a better flyer. He bent himself over backwards to do what he needed for the team to make it easier for them during missions. He didn’t want to be the one that was holding them back. He didn’t want to be a disappointment anymore.

He stopped joking on the battlefield and during training. He barely cracked a smile for anyone, not even himself. He sat stone-faced during debriefs and meetings diligently noting anything important and relayed information to his team the same way he did to Iverson at the Garrison. He didn’t want to be the reason they made a mistake. He didn’t want to be seen as unworthy of his title.

He stopped talking as much as he did before. The halls of the Castle were silent without his singing and the kitchen and hangers were quiet without his idle chatter to Hunk and Pidge. He studied the star maps extensively and went to Coran to learn how to help repair the ship and do other maintenance since the others would be too busy in their respective fields. He stayed quiet during planning unless he was called on. He didn’t want to be seen as stupid anymore.

He didn’t go to Hunk to talk about his problems anymore. There wasn’t a point. He didn’t want to annoy him any more than he already had. It wouldn’t be fair to him. He didn’t go to any of them, now that he knew how they felt about him. He just didn’t want to be a problem anymore.

He thought that the others would appreciate this. They were the ones that told him to change after all, but it was never enough for them.

“Obviously you aren’t working as hard as everyone else,”

She had seen him training every day; every night she passed him in the training room.

“This mission was really important, I’m disappointed in you,”

He had done exactly what Shiro said; he always did what Shiro said.

“We should just dump you off at the next planet and find someone who can actually handle being a paladin,”

He’s barely seen him smile in weeks; he doesn’t even try to smile anymore.

“Why can’t you just stop being an idiot for ten-seconds?”

He tried to be smarter for her; it’s harder than she thinks.

“Can’t you just leave me alone? You’re so annoying,”

He just wanted a snack; he didn’t mean to bother him.

“Okay Lance, what has been up with you lately?” Shiro asked breaking him out of his thoughts. “It’s throwing off the team,”

“What are you talking about?” He asked in confusion. Breaking up the team? He thought he was fixing it for them.

“This “mood” you’ve been in, we get that you’re huffy at being called out on your behaviour but that doesn’t mean you get to act this way,”

“Yeah man, it’s like you’re a robot or something,” Hunk added.

“A robot would be less creepy,” Pidge chimed in with a grin.

“True,”

Lance’s body froze. He doesn’t get to act this way? He was put down over and over by all of them and they get annoyed because he doesn’t react to it anymore?

“What do you want from me?” He muttered quietly. Inside he was seething with rage. He changed everything he ever was for them and they still insult him.

“Speak up Lance, we couldn’t hear you,” Shiro said.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!?” He screamed at the leader. “I don’t know what you want me to do, I’ve tried changing, I’ve tried to become better but obviously it didn’t matter, so what do you want from me?” He asked, looking around at the group. They were staring at him with wide eyes.

As quickly as the rage struck him, it drained away leaving only a black pit of sadness.

“Why are you doing this to me? Is it because you hate me? I don’t know what I’m doing wrong to be treated like this by you guys,” he dropped his head in his hands, his shoulders trembling as he tried to stop the tears from coming out.

“I can’t believe we were actually worried about you for a second,” Keith said after a moment of silence. Lance dragged his head up to look at them, this time he didn’t try to blink away the tears and let them roll down his cheeks. He let Keith’s shoulder hit him as he walked out.

“Why does everything always have to be about you?” Hunk asked as he passed Lance.

“We have a lot more important things to deal with then your stupid ego,” Pidge spat catching up to Hunk. He turned to look at Shiro and Allura who were decidedly not happy.

“I can imagine you know what we’re going to say,” Shiro clipped, his arms crossed in front of him.

“Disappointment, weak link,” he muttered facing either of them as he said it. They sighed and headed towards the doors as well.

“At least you realize this time,” Shiro grumbled before walking over the threshold.

“Always did,” he said quietly to the empty room. He looked over at the doors his team just left. They would never be happy with what he could give.

He had been kind to the universe over and over again; broken his body and spirit for the sake of others, all because he wanted to help. One day he knew that he would be repaid in kind. For now though, he would just have to do what he did best.

Suffer in silence.


	2. Chapter 2

Lance tried to stay strong, he really did. He realized that they would never appreciate what he would do for them. He couldn’t take it anymore though. He didn’t want to have to deal with it anymore, and he wasn’t going to.

“I’m leaving the team,” he said one night at dinner. “I just wanted to let you know in advance,”

A glob of food goo fell from Coran’s spoon on to his plate as he looked at Lance in shock. He slid back from the table ready to jump up in concern but he froze when he heard loud groans coming from the other paladins.

“You’re so dramatic Lance,” Pidge huffed pressing her cheek into her hand as she swirled her spoon in the goo.

“Heh, right,” Lance forced out a laugh before turning and leaving the room, his hands deep in his pockets. Coran glanced desperately between the paladins and the door Lance left through, before running after the blue paladin. He ignored the surprised calls that came from behind him and quickly caught up to Lance.

“Lance? What was that back there?” He asked with concern, gently holding Lance’s shoulders. Lance’s eyes widened in confusion before he realized that Coran wouldn’t actually know about anything that was happening with him. Whenever he went to help the man he never dropped his cheery demeanour and he was always away when they did training lately since there were more often than not, repairs to be made.

As he told Coran everything that was happening around the Castle he could see his eyes getting wider and wider. He couldn’t tell if it was in shock or maybe disbelief, probably both. He wasn’t sure if Coran would believe him but he could only hope that he would. At this point, he was the only ally he had left on the ship.

As he finished his tale, he looked down at the ground not wanting to see what expression Coran was making. He didn’t want to see his face if he thought Lance was lying. To his pleasant surprise, Coran lifted his chin up to look at him again.

“That must be really hard for you Lance,” he said with a comforting smile. Lance gave the man a watery smile in relief.

“It really is Coran, I can’t stay here anymore,” he admitted. Coran let out a small sigh.

“Could you maybe think about it? Give it a little more time and see if they change?” He asked hopefully. He really didn’t want Lance to leave the ship. At the moment he was the light of the team. The rest of them were too focused on their own goals and weren’t looking ahead for the whole team. Honestly, it was quite frustrating; there was a reason they did team bonding exercises after all. Even Allura who ordered it in the first place was getting too occupied in destroying every Galra base, fleet, and hideout in pursuit of Zarkon to worry about the team dynamic anymore.

“It’s been months Coran, if they couldn’t change in that time, why would they change any further in the future?” He revealed quietly. Coran could barely hold in a gasp. This had been going on for months and he didn’t even realize it?

“I’ve been talking to Kolivan about this for a while and he said that I was welcome with the Blades,” he said looking at Coran with determination. “Even if I can’t be apart of Voltron anymore, I still want to help,”

“That’s very admirable of you Lance, I’m proud of you,” he said with a small smile, his eyes filling up with tears.

“Thanks, Coran, I-I’m going to miss you, well, I have to finish packing, goodbye,” Lance sniffed gripping Coran in a tight hug before running off. Coran stood frozen in the hallway, his fingers clenched tightly by his sides.

* * *

Through the tears, Lance shoved the little possessions he owned into one of the Castle’s rucksacks. He realized just how much this place wasn’t a home to him, it never had been. He barely had anything other than the clothes on his back and the pair of blue lion slippers in his bag to remind him of his favourite girl.

His stomach sank in guilt at the thought of the lion. He wasn’t going to go say goodbye to her before he left. He knew that if he went to see her now, he wasn’t going to be able to leave. At the emotions swirling through his mind, he realized that he could feel Blue at the back of his mind. Although he could sense the sadness radiating through their bond, he could still feel her urging him to go. That he would be much happier somewhere other than here.

“You really are the best Blue,” he whispered in the dimness of the halls.

The minor sense of relief was soon replaced by nervousness as he walked closer to the hanger. The months of being beaten down for the simplest things were catching up to him. What if the Blade was the same? What if they found him just as useless? What if they were right all along and he was just being dramatic?

He sighed as he walked up to a random pod and threw his bag inside. He flinched when he heard footfalls behind him, thinking that it was one of his teammates coming to send him off with just a splash of venom. He turned with a wince and was surprised to see Coran instead.

Except he had a bag slung over his shoulder.

“Coran, what?” He asked quietly, his eyes wide.

“I won’t let you be alone anymore,” he stated with a broad grin. Lance let out a strangled gasp as he stumbled forward and wrapped his arms around Coran’s chest.

“B-but Coran, this is your home, you can’t leave it because of me,” he stuttered out as Coran thread his fingers through Lance’s hair soothingly.

“No,” Coran said decisively. Lance looked up at him with confusion.

“My home was built on trust, respect, and love for everyone that lived there, from what you told me, it hasn’t been my home for many months,”

“Are you sure?” Lance asked quietly, reaching up to wipe away his tears. Coran gave him a reassuring grin.

“Of course I am, now hop in, we have a rebellion to join!” He cheered. Lance let out a joyous laugh and followed him to the pod with a wide smile. Coran couldn’t help the fond expression that came across his face.

That’s how Lance should look all the time. Happy and full of life.

* * *

The coordinates that the Blade gave them was fortunately not too far from where the Castle was drifting through space. Unlike the last coordinates they were given from the Blade, these led to a large cruiser instead of a base. They made contact and the small pod was given access to the hanger. As they docked, Coran could see Lance trembling in nervousness and he reached over to reassuringly ruffle his hair.

When they looked out they could see Kolivan and Antok standing stiffly waiting for them, as well as a smaller Galra whom neither of them recognized. He was much shorter than the other two and had long silver hair and pointed ears.

They climbed out of the pod leaving their bags behind to greet the three Galra instead.

“Coran, this is a surprise,” Kolivan said as the two of them approached.

“For both of us,” Lance replied with a chuckle. “He hopped in last minute, I hope that’s okay,”

“Of course,” Kolivan answered with a nod. “Before we go any further, I wanted you to meet an important figure to the Blade of Marmora,” he gestured over to the third person.

“This is Prince Lotor, he is Zarkon’s son,” he revealed. Lance and Coran’s jaws dropped in surprise as their eyes whipped over to the prince. Lotor let out an amused laugh.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both, I hope that we will be able to take down my father’s empire together,” he grinned. Lance let out a snort and smiled back at him.

“Quite the introduction,” Lance beamed.

“Always a pleasure to meet a new ally!” Coran said exuberantly.

“I didn’t expect you to accept him so quickly,” Kolivan admitted after he blinked in surprise.

“Well, if he’s in the Blade of Mamora he must have complete some sort of trust test or whatever right, you obviously trust him,” Lance reasoned with a shrug with Coran nodding in agreement at his side.

“We hope to earn your trust as well Prince Lotor,” Coran said bowing at the man.

“Just Lotor is fine, I insist,” he said waving his hands around in embarrassment.

“Hmm, very well then,” Coran acquiesced.

“Now that you’ve been introduced, let’s begin your training,” Kolivan cut in crossing his arms. They nodded seriously and followed the Galra deeper into the ship.

It was time to show everyone what they were made of.

* * *

When the paladins woke up the next morning, it was to their own relief and disbelief. They discovered that Lance had done exactly what he said he would do and left the Castle of his own volition. On the other hand, they found that Coran was missing as well and they can only assume that he left with Lance.

Allura, of course, was shocked and confused by Coran’s actions. Not once did it seem like Coran was unhappy on the ship and was incredibly loyal to their cause and the Altean race. So why did he leave them when they needed that support the most?

She shook herself out of her own head and instead turned to face the paladins.

“We can’t let their absence distract us from our goals,” she declared. Even if they were down two team members, they still had enough people to form Voltron.

Now she would be a paladin.

As if reading her mind, Pidge pointed out that very fact to everyone else and they looked over at her with wide smiles.

“This is great! This is exactly what we needed, we won’t be distracted on the battlefield and we’ll be able to get through more training, Zarkon won’t know what hit him!” Keith exclaimed looking around at each one of them.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go form Voltron,” Shiro said. They let out a cheer of agreement and headed towards the hangers.

Excitement was pulsing through every fibre of Allura’s being as she ran through Blue’s hanger doors. As expected Blue was sitting tall and proud with her particle barrier covering her.

Finally, they would be able to take down Zarkon now that they had capable paladins to form Voltron. She reached the lion and looked up at the barrier already imagining the glory of Voltron and how it would feel to truly be connected with the other paladins for the first time.

She laid her hand against the blue shield expecting a blast of warmth as Blue connected to her and rushed into her mind.

What she didn’t expect was the jolt of electricity that sparked at her hand and made her jump back in alarm and pain. She held her hand close to her chest and looked up at Blue with wide eyes.

“What are you doing? I’m your new paladin,” she declared. Unsurprisingly there was no response from the lion and her temper gradually grew. She glared Blue down as she stomped back up to the particle barrier.

“I am the princess of this Castle and I will be piloting you,” she yelled. She went to hit the particle barrier again but before her hand could connect, a loud dangerous growl echoed through the hanger. She backed up with wide eyes and watched as Blue stood from her position and turned her back to Allura without hesitation.

* * *

Unbeknownst to her, the paladins were having a difficult time with their lions as well. They reached their separate hangers but as soon as the doors opened, they didn’t hear their lions’ voices in their heads or felt the emotions they usually did. Just like Blue, they had their particle barriers raised.

They begged and bargained to try and be let in. They asked what happened and why they were being left in the dark.

Just like Blue, they turned their backs on their paladins. Just as the paladins had turned their’s on Lance.

The last thing they told them before going silent was that they were only to approach them if someone was in danger.

It was better than nothing at all.

* * *

Just as they said, the lions would only let the paladins in when a planet was in danger. They were forced to avoid fleets and patrols and focus more on the diplomatic side of the war again. The only break that they had actually gotten was that they hadn’t run into any robeasts yet since Blue had not taken her particle barrier down once. No matter what any of the paladins tried to say to her.

Because they couldn’t form Voltron anymore, they were forced to rely more on their alliances and call for more backups when they were planning missions. That’s what led them to ask for help from the Blade of Marmora. As they kept talking to Kolivan, they could tell that he wasn’t too pleased, with what they weren’t sure, but he did agree to meet with them again and they were given coordinates to their current planet base.

From what they could see when they hopped to the coordinates; it was a small dwarf planet barely bigger than Pluto. As they kept getting closer, they suddenly felt the Castle shake as the hanger doors shot open and the lions deployed.

“What happened?!” Allura cried fingers frantically swiping at the screens.

“I don’t know, all of the lions just left their hangers,” Hunk reported.

“They’re landing on the surface,” Pidge commented. They could see them in a circle and landed the Castle as close as they could and shot down to the surface in the lift. When they made their way to the lions they froze in shocked silence.

Fondly looking up at Blue stood Lance and right beside him was Coran. It had been months since they last saw them and it showed on them. They were both wearing Blade of Marmora suits with various weapons attached to their person. Both of their hair was longer, Lance’s slightly short than Coran’s which was tied in a ponytail. They were surprised to see that Coran’s moustache had evolved into a full beard.

“Coran, Lance,” Shiro breathed out before they turned their heads to face them. The smiles that were on their face just a few seconds ago were gone, replaced with a completely emotionless mask.

“Princess Allura, paladins,” Kolivan greeted them while Lotor just gave them a nod of his head.

“Kolivan, may I ask what they are doing here?” She asked pointing to Lance and Coran. Kolivan quirked his eyebrow and glanced between them.

“They are members of the Blade,” he explained blandly. At that, they all gave a bark of laughter.

“Lance? A Blade? That’s hilarious,” Keith choked out, wiping a tear from his face.

“Yeah, what could Lance do as a Blade?” Pidge joined in. With a growl, Lotor stalked forward pointing his finger threateningly in their faces.

**“** How dare you, Lance will be twice the person any of you will ever be,” he snarled. A hand clamped down on his shoulder and pulled him back slightly before he was replaced by Lance.

“Thanks, Lotor, but I think it’s about time I fought my own battles and explained,” he reasoned. Lotor huffed and crossed his arms but nodded in agreement. Lance gave him a reassuring grin before looking back at his former team. He really didn’t want to talk to them for too long, he just wanted to say his final dues and never deal with them again.

“Allura I really respected you. I thought that you would take this entire crazy thing that happened to us and make sense out of it for us, I thought that you would see the work that I put in to be the best that I possibly could for this team. I just wanted to be someone you would be proud to call one of your paladins but I just couldn’t meet your standards I guess,” he turned to look at Shiro next. He could see the leader clenching his hands at his side and looking down at the ground.

“Shiro, I think you could be a good leader, I think you could be a great leader even, but it’s clear that you’re biased and it shows. You were my hero at one time, I looked up to you and I wanted to be like you, but then you beat me down and you let the others beat me down too. You didn’t care that I was hurting if it had been someone else you would have been right there to pick them up and you just let me lay there,” he let out a sigh and turned to Keith. It was obvious that he was trying to be indifferent but he could see his fingers digging into the sleeves of his jacket from where he was crossing his arms.

“Keith, I’ve always been jealous of how talented you are and how everything just came to you like it was nothing. I struggled so hard in the Garrison because they always told me what I couldn’t be. You. All I wanted was to just be as great as you always seem to be but no matter how hard I trained I just couldn’t do that,” the flinch he got from Pidge when he turned to her wasn’t satisfying at all. He knew that he wasn’t happy with her and he knew he didn’t really like her either but still, at one time, she was important to him.

“Pidge, you’re the smartest person I know by far and you know that, so I don’t know why you didn’t see what you were doing. I guess that means that you saw and didn’t care, I’m not surprised but it still hurts. You were one of my closest friends and I wanted to be there when you found your family and I wanted to meet your brother and tell him how close we are, but I don’t think we can ever do that,” he didn’t even want to look at Hunk but this is really the one that got to him the most and he wanted to face it head-on.

“Hunk, I can’t even tell you how much it hurt when you let me go. It honestly felt like a goddamn hot poker was going through my chest. I confided in you from day one, I told you how much everyone else was messing me up and you decided to hurt me too. Everyone else is doing it, why can’t I right? I just wanted to land back on Earth with you man, I wanted to be there when you reunited with your parents,”

They open their mouths to speak but are quickly cut off with a venomous glare.

“I don’t want your apologies, we all know they won’t be sincere, I know you, inside I know that you think you were justified in some way and don’t pretend that you actually care,” he spat. They shuffled awkwardly on the spot no longer looking at Lance.

“You think that you got rid of the weak link, the one that was holding you back from getting to Zarkon, the stupid and annoying one,” he listed off on his fingers.

“Well obviously it isn’t working and you need to come back and be the blue paladin again,” Allura demanded with angry eyes. Lance let out a bark of laughter.

“Come back? I’m not coming back! You need to fix your own problems, I already tried to change for you and fix your problems and you didn’t care,” he said harshly. Allura’s eyes widened in shock that Lance talked back to her.

“I’m not dealing with this anymore, good luck,” he said before he turned and headed back inside the base. Kolivan, Lotor, and Coran all glared at the five of them.

“I think we’re done here, contact us only if absolutely necessary,” Kolivan said blandly before turning his back on them as well, quickly followed by Lotor and Coran.

With nothing else to be said, they returned to the Castle. The Lions returned to the hangers after a short while satisfied that they reunited with Lance and Coran. Just like before, the lions only reacted when in immediate danger and Blue never took another pilot.

With the loss of Lance and Coran, also came the loss of Voltron.

That wasn’t the end though; the reputation of the Blade of Marmora spread through the galaxy as they completed more and more missions with Lance and Coran’s aid. Their numbers grew as did their resources, they became a true force to be reckoned with and fought the empire at every turn not letting them gain any ground.

As the years passed, Lance found his home with the Blade. He felt like he had a family that he could depend on and come to love. It didn’t matter how he got there or what made him who he was at that point. He knew where he truly belonged.

No one would ever turn their back on him again.

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit my my tumblr at blueplanettrash!


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